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Text- The Neglected Media in Multimedia Design

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Wed Jul 20 2005

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Occasionally we gloss over the basics. Here's a good resource, Usability News , and a good read on single versus multiple column layouts that we can apply to learning and elearning materials.

Occasionally we gloss over the basics. Here's a good resource, Usability News, and a good read on single versus multiple column layouts that we can apply to learning and elearning materials.

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In summary, the major findings regarding line length, justification, and multi-column displays and online reading have been:

In summary, the major findings regarding line length, justification, and multi-column displays and online reading have been:

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    Longer line lengths generally facilitate faster reading speeds.

    Longer line lengths generally facilitate faster reading speeds.

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    Shorter line lengths result in increased comprehension.

    Shorter line lengths result in increased comprehension.

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    The optimal number of characters per line is between 45 and 65.

    The optimal number of characters per line is between 45 and 65.

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    Paging through online text generally results in better comprehension than scrolling.

    Paging through online text generally results in better comprehension than scrolling.

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    Reading speed is faster for both single and multiple columns, but preference is for multiple short columns.

    Reading speed is faster for both single and multiple columns, but preference is for multiple short columns.

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    Left-justified text is read faster than full-justified text.

    Left-justified text is read faster than full-justified text.

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From Is Multiple-Column Online Text Better? It Depends! by J. Ryan Baker, full article here: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/72/columns.htm

From Is Multiple-Column Online Text Better? It Depends! by J. Ryan Baker, full article here: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/72/columns.htm

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Apologies about the duplication to readers of my own blog, but I thought this worthy of posting here. Even an immersive VR simulation has been known to start with or include some text.

Apologies about the duplication to readers of my own blog, but I thought this worthy of posting here. Even an immersive VR simulation has been known to start with or include some text.

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